Take Me Deeper
by Jjah-Jjah
Summary: Sometimes, when someone wants something badly enough, anything is possible... Even witches, dragons, salmon-back races, and candy-making otters. [on hiatus]
1. Discovery

It is I, Jjah-Jjah! Hello peoples! This is my first foray into the territory of Spirited Away! Ain't you proud? I *should* be working on my current fic Vermillion, but due to a recently overcome bought of writers block, I've decided I should always have a back-up fic in case my brain explodes and I have to go back to the home.  
  
Ed: Just say it: Mental Ward.  
  
JJ: Everybody, this is my muse Ed the purple flamingo. Don't pay any attention to a word he says. He's got mercury poisoning from eating all those shrimp and it's affected his mind.  
  
Ed: Oh shut the *bleeep* up. Flamingos who eat shrimp turn pink. Do I look pink to you?  
  
JJ: What do you eat then?  
  
Ed: None of your *bleeep* business, JJ!  
  
Okaaay... Moving on... Just so you know, I know nothing whatsoever about the field of river ecology. I'm just applying what I know about other fields and winging it from there. If you know anything pertinent about it or I make any huge mistakes, tell me and I'll hasten to amend. Weeelll... Nothing also to do but slap on the disclaimer. Happy happy joy joy.  
  
Disclaimer: JJ falls down from her magical place. Hey! Who the hell are you? Are you trying to get into my magical place? Well it sure as hell isn't Spirit World so just turn your pretty face around and prance right on out of here! Me? Own Spirited Away? What have you been smoking? That belongs to Miyazaki-san. (who is not me) I don't own his stuff, that I don't... AHAHAHAHA! I'm being taken over by the Kenshin virus! Help... Me... *JJ falls to the floor and dies. Ed dances on her grave.*  
  
**********  
  
Chapter One  
  
********  
  
The green grasses of a country field rippled like the sea as a small economy-sized rickety looking car sped down a country road. Besides the decrepit cough of the motor, all was peacefully silent. Well, at least until the motor began to cough in a most unbecoming way and sputtered to a halt. The car stopped with a screech and a young woman leapt out.  
  
"Dammit! You stupid car!!!!" She yelled as she kicked the tire.  
  
Chihiro groaned and brushed her hair out of her eyes. Why did the stupid car have to keep breaking down? Still pouting, she opened the trunk and took out a gigantic backpack and a plastic case. She shut the trunk and began walking down the road. It *was* the middle of nowhere and no one in their right mind would actually steal that stupid car. Besides, the river wasn't that far away. As she strolled down the strip of cracked and faded asphalt, she let her thoughts wander back to times gone by.  
  
It had been eight, almost nine years since that day that she sometimes forgot. The day when her family had taken a short cut on the way to the blue house that they were moving into. That day had changed everything. That was when she entered the World of the Spirits and became Sen. For a little while at least...  
  
It was because of this that she was doing what she was now... All of it was because of that time in her childhood and the time she had spent with that boy. Haku. Kohaku. She smiled at the though for the simple reason of it being so ironic at this point in time.  
  
Haku had been lost. He had been unable to find his way home, because his river had been filled in and turned into a parking lot.  
  
Key words: had been.  
  
Chihiro smiled gleefully and began to run as soon as the sparkle of water came into view. Breathing heavily, she skidded to a halt at the bank... And then lost her footing and fell headlong down the slope.  
  
"CRAP!" She sputtered as she splashed to a halt at the waters edge. She had landed on her back, so she stared for a moment at the sky. It was clear and blue, except for a few sparse clouds. She would have stayed longer, if she hadn't felt the annoying wetness creeping up her head.  
  
"Arrgh!" She growled as she sat up. The back of her head had landed in the water and now her hair was wet and slightly muddy. "Can this day get any worse?!" She muttered as she wrung out her hair and went to retrieve her belongings. She winced at a skinned knee and opened up her backpack. Everything seemed ok. Then she opened up the plastic case and took out some test tubes. She grabbed some paper and a sharpie out of the backpack and scurried back down to the water's edge.  
  
The water rippled and the air was filled with the pleasant smell of clean water. Carefully, Chihiro filled two of the test tubes with water and then put the stoppers in. With the sharpie she labeled the part of the river they came from and then put them back into the case. Then, she stood, and hauling her things along with her, began walking along the river's shore.  
  
This river. This river was incredibly special. It was all she thought about and dreamed about. She very nearly devoted her entire existence to this river.  
  
The Kohaku River.  
  
********************  
  
She had still been in high school at the time. She had still been trying to figure out what she would study once she went to college. Her parents had wanted her to be a doctor. Not wanting to disappoint them, she had gone to the library to do some research on pre med school....  
  
She had never read about anything so boring in her life...  
  
She had been getting ready to leave when a single book caught her eye. It had been about river ecology. She read it. She was hooked.  
  
A river ecologist! Why hadn't she thought of it before? It was the *perfect* career! She could indulge her memories of the river spirit she had helped in the bathhouse and of Haku, the river who had no one to save him... In a way she could still effect what happened in the spirit world by keeping the rivers healthy and clean... She could still help her friends in that way... Even if they never knew.  
  
Needless to say her parents had been less than thrilled at her choice. They considered it to be a rather meaningless thing to do. Chihiro ignored their pleas and continued her research. She joined environmental agencies and volunteered at them regularly. She had found her calling.  
  
It was her senior year in high school when she discovered it... It was the article that changed her life.  
  
She had gone to the library to do some research about a river that had been diverted in the late thirties to early forties. She spent hours searching through old newspapers and when she found what she was looking for, she nearly fainted.  
  
The river she had been looking for was none other than the Kohaku River. She felt chills run up and down her spine and she somehow got the distinct impression of the wind urging her on...  
  
The river had been diverted during the war because other water supplies had been contaminated. They had never diverted it back once they were finished...  
  
That meant that the Kohaku River had had been filled in was not the river's original, true course. The real Kohaku River bed was elsewhere... Not buried under concrete. Was there still hope?  
  
She had never been sure what it was that compelled her to go find out for herself. She had run through the library like a chicken with its head cut off. She found a map that showed the river's original course, photocopied it, and sprinted to the nearest train station. She got off at the stop nearest to her destination and walked the rest of the way. The old riverbed was in a wildlife reserve. Luckily, she had found a way in. She searched for what seemed like forever till she discovered what she was looking for in true Chihiro fashion... She tripped and fell in...  
  
There was a mighty splash. Chihiro floundered around till she realized the water was shallow enough to stand in. Wait a minute... Water?  
  
The riverbed was filled run-off rain water from the thunderstorm that had been so televised a week before. What hope Chihiro had weakened. The water would most likely evaporate in a few weeks.  
  
Haku. If his river came back then he would have a home. He wouldn't be wandering and alone anymore. He wouldn't have to work for Yu-baba and have her force him to do horrible things. Haku...  
  
Tears came then. She had been trying to help him and she had failed... It wasn't a pleasant feeling. She kneeled down the water and shook with sobs. When all her tears had run dry she just sat there silently. That was when she heard... something....  
  
The faint laughter of water, cheerful and alive. Comforting. As if trying to assure her that it was there. She opened her weepy red eyes and curiously tried to find the source of the sound. She crept along searching quietly. The sound was so faint she almost though that she couldn't find it, but then she did. Trickling out from between some rocks just above the water level was a tiny persistent stream of water. Ground water?  
  
If ground water was coming up and if it were joined by a lot of rainwater run-off, the river *did* have a chance of coming back!  
  
There was still hope.  
  
She had arrived home late that night happy, wet, and grounded by her parents. Yet as if in response to the girl's happiness, another thunderstorm came up that night. Before long, the old river had been made new again. It flowed true and strong along its original course and showed no sign of receding.  
  
Chihiro had then embarked on a one-woman crusade to put the river under government protection. Everyone at the environmental agencies she was a part of supported her completely. Once the media got involved it was all over. The river was protected. No one could ever do away with it again.  
  
Needless to say, getting a river protected by the government nearly single-handed was a lovely thing to put on a college application. She had gotten into her first choice school, and immediately began the tedious process of getting a degree in river ecology.  
  
*************  
  
So here she was. It was her personal project. To protect the Kohaku River and see it returned to its former glory. Now, several years later, life was already returning. Bird chirruped n the trees around her. The river was filled with minnows and small crustaceans. Larger fish had been brought in and released. Any number of waterfowl could be seen meandering about daily. The river was slowly but steadily coming back to life.  
  
But something was missing. The sounds of life in the river were somehow hollow. Everything seemed to be holding its breath as if waiting, expecting, the river to die and everything to go back the way it was before.  
  
Chihiro knew why. The river had no spirit. Haku had not come back to it yet. She would have known if he had.  
  
It did make sense. He might not have any way of knowing it was back... That might be it. Or Yu-baba could still be keeping him and not allowing him to leave.  
  
Those thoughts brought her back to a promise made quite a while ago. Haku had promised that they would meet again. However, she had come to a realization about that.  
  
After she had come home from the Spirit World, she had waited for Haku. And waited. And waited. Till something occurred to her. Ever since she had left that other world, a strange feeling had plagued her. It was almost as if her mind was trying to turn in on itself and push her memories of that time into the cloudy haze of nonexistence.  
  
She didn't know how she knew, but she realized that she had been supposed to *forget*. She knew she wasn't supposed to remember her time in Spirit World, but for some reason...  
  
She did...  
  
Perhaps. Perhaps that was the way it was with humans. Perhaps when humans came out of Spirit World, they immediately forgot everything that happened while there. But that didn't explain why *she*, Chihiro, remembered.  
  
It also explained why she hadn't seen hide nor hair of Haku. It made sense. If he thought she wouldn't remember him, then what was the point of keeping that promise? She had forgiven him long ago... He had been trying to comfort her when they said goodbye, to make the separation easier for both of them. She couldn't very well begrudge him that.  
  
Chihiro trudged on, looking for the little rowboat on the bank that she used to go get water samples from the middle of the river... She needed to get some silt samples from the riverbed too... But not today. Tomorrow maybe...  
  
Chihiro hopped up the next gentle slope. There was the boat, propped up by cinderblocks and waiting to be heaved into the water. Hopefully, it wouldn't leak this time... She walked over to the boat and put her things in, but just when she was about to start pulling the boat off the blocks, an unnaturally strong gust of wind knocked her over.  
  
"Ow!" She yapped as she landed on her behind. "What did I ever do to you?!" She yelled towards the sky. The sky followed the behavior of most inanimate objects Chihiro talked to and remained silent... Accept for the low whistle of wind in the trees. Then another gust sprang up. Chihiro watched helplessly as a spreadsheet from her backpack flew out and blew away over the next slope.  
  
"Dammit!!!!" Chihiro screeched as she ran after the offending piece of paper. "Come back here!"  
  
She grabbed a hold of it at the top of the slope. She sighed in relief. She would have gotten in a lot of trouble if she'd had to do that thing over... Her relief was short lived though, for the wind blew in another inexplicable gust and pushed Chihiro down the hill.  
  
"Oh Kami! Why me?!!!" She yelled as she tumbled down the slope. She skidded to a halt at the bottom relatively unscathed. It wasn't a very steep slope. Chihiro was going to curse a little more, but when she opened her eyes her was intrigued.  
  
There, a few inches from her face were some strange thick muddy lines carved into the slope. She got up onto her knees and stared at them. The wind blew in the grass around them making them look all the more mysterious in her eyes. She didn't think they were places where water had run down. Besides, there was no place for water to run down from. She touched one. The mud was completely smooth, like a slide. Chihiro frowned. What on earth could have made these?  
  
She stood and ran back to her backpack. She took out a Polaroid camera, ran back to the odd lines, and snapped a picture. The photo popped out and she waited impatiently for it to develop. She would show it Professor Sakai back at the university. He knew everything about rivers. He would know what these strange lines were surely.  
  
Hesitantly, Chihiro headed back to the boat and set out to finish what she'd come to do. All the while she collected water samples she kept glancing back at that one section of bank. Something was very... strange about it...  
  
After a while, she packed up her things and headed back to her evil car. Once there she tried to start it again. No such luck. Grumbling, she brought out her cell phone and called a tow truck.  
  
"Ding dong, the car is dead." she mumbled to herself. She hauled herself onto the hood of the car and sat there to wait. She stared up at the clouds for a long while until she felt compelled to look at the photo once again. She felt a strange sensation as she stared at it. A sensation that she was sure she had felt before...  
  
Why was it so familiar?  
  
****************  
  
YAY! Chapter one up, hot diggity... Be forewarned, my updating will come and go with the tide and have no set pattern. Why are you reading this? You should be reviewing this chapter!  
  
Farewell 


	2. Realization

It is I, Jjah-Jjah! Here I am again. I'm bored and I have to inclination to entertain you people today, so I'll just get onto my splendiferous reviewers!!!  
  
Dragonmaster01: Thank you! *bounces* 'tis true!  
  
Angel Of Joy: Well here's the new chappie! Thank you!  
  
Two reviews.... I LOVE YOU GUYS!  
  
Ah well... Here's the disclaimer.  
  
Disclaimer: Do I *look* like Miyazaki-san? Do I?  
  
Onward!  
  
****************  
  
Chapter 2  
  
Numbly, Chihiro wished she were a lump of coal.  
  
It wasn't that Professor Sakai's lectures weren't interesting... Heck, he was her favorite teacher... She just didn't feel like being in class today. She felt strangely compelled to suddenly jump out of her seat and go running like hell towards her river. She suppressed the urge.  
  
Just barely.  
  
She had yet to show the Professor the photo. She planned to as soon as class was over. Absently, she played with a lock of hair that had fallen loose of her customary ponytail. She already knew everything he was lecturing about, soil erosion...  
  
Kami! There's dirt and the water carries it off... Whooptie do! Let's move on!  
  
But nooooo... There seemed to be a few particularly dense specimens who needed further clarification. Shoot me now.  
  
Chihiro sighed quietly and tried to take a nap. Fortune would have it however, that as soon as she fell asleep class was abruptly over. She woke with the bell and then fought against the tide of leaving students as she tried to reach the podium.  
  
"Professor Sakai!" She called as she finally came up..  
  
"Ogino-san!" Professor Sakai answered, smiling. The Professor was a pleasant man. He was short, but not fat. His face was round and creased with laughter lines. "Is everything ok, Ogino-san? Is there something you need help with?"  
  
"Well kinda. I saw this weird thing on the bank of the Kohaku yesterday and I took a picture of it. Could you look at?"  
  
"Of course."  
  
Chihiro quickly gave him the photo she had at the ready. He put on his reading glasses, looked at if for a while, and then assumed a rather startled expression.  
  
"You say you took this at the Kohaku River?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"That's very odd..."  
  
"You know what they are then?"  
  
"Yes. They're an otter's mud slides."  
  
"Otter mud slides?"  
  
"Mm hmm. They're made by otters sliding down a slope into the water, like children in a playground. Otters are very playful creatures; they do it for fun."  
  
"I didn't think otters lived in Japan."  
  
"Well, they don't. Not anymore. Otters used to live in Japan, but they were wiped out by loss of habitat, water pollution, and over hunting. Maybe this one escaped from a zoo and somehow got into the river, or someone released it... The only other explanation I can think of is that it swam here from somewhere otters still live, like Indonesia or Vietnam, but that's just a little too far fetched. I have a book here that might help you..."  
  
Professor Sakai went to the bookshelf behind his desk and pulled out a large colorful looking book. He handed it to her. "This is all about otters."  
  
"Thank you Professor!"  
  
"You're welcome. Just don't forget to bring it back when you're done."  
  
"I won't! Bye bye!"  
  
"See you tomorrow!"  
  
Chihiro raced to her dorm, the book in hand. Otters? She certainly hadn't seen that one coming... She eagerly raced back to her dorm room so that she might shed some light on the mystery.  
  
******************  
  
"Ach, Chihiro! Look where you're going!"  
  
"Sorry!" Chihiro smiled at her roommate Asako, whom she had nearly run over. Chihiro plopped down on her bed and opened the book.  
  
"What's that?"  
  
"A book on otters. I think an otter is living in the Kohaku River."  
  
"No fooling? I wonder what effect that's gonna have on the ecosystem... Have you seen any yet?" One didn't have to know Asako very well to know that she wasn't referring to otters.  
  
"No Asako! Listen, if I see any, you'll be the first to know!"  
  
Asako had done her thesis on an animal called the Giant Salamander. It was the biggest amphibian in the world and Asako was it's biggest fan. She was constantly screening lakes, rivers, streams, and mud puddles for the illusive and rare creature. Chihiro thought she was obsessed.  
  
But then she was obsessed too, so that was ok...  
  
Speaking of obsessions, Chihiro had narrowed the field of suspects down to three. Only three kinds of otter actually lived in the immediate area around Japan, the Oriental Short-Clawed Otter, the India Smooth-Coated (or just Smooth) Otter, and the Hairy-Nosed Otter...  
  
Ok. So all she had to do was go down to the river and have an otter stakeout. She still needed to get those silt samples anyway... Sounds like a plan.  
  
She hesitated on her way to go put on her bathing suit. There was that photo again. Entranced, she picked it up and looked at it. Why was this, this feeling when she looked at it so familiar? She hadn't felt this way since... Since Spirit World...  
  
The wind chime that hung in the open window jingled once, and then was ominously silent.  
  
Chihiro looked toward it. It wasn't even swaying. The photo fluttered from her fingertips and fell to the floor. Her brow furrowed and she stood. She went to her closet and started shuffling through her things.  
  
"What are you doing?" Asako asked looking up from the homework she was finishing.  
  
"Looking for something." Chihiro mumbled. Where was it? She knew she had packed it when she moved in. Why had she ever stopped wearing it anyway? Ah yes... She was afraid she might lose it... Well that was dumb, now she had... Arrgh.  
  
"What are you looking for?"  
  
"A hair tie. A purple one."  
  
"The one that shimmers?"  
  
Chihiro abruptly extracted herself from the closet bumping her head against the upper shelf in the process. "Yes! That's the one!"  
  
Asako raised a brow and pointed towards a frog figurine on Chihiro's bookshelf. It was wearing the offending hair tie like a little necklace. Chihiro blinked, then laughed sheepishly. Asako chuckled at her roommate's behavior and went back to what she was doing. Chihiro walked over to the shelf and exchanged the tie with the one she was wearing. It was the hair tie Zeniba had given her; made out of the threads her friends had woven together. Where were those friends now?  
  
If only she knew.  
  
Perhaps this hair tie would bring her luck. Zeniba had said it would protect her...  
  
With that thought in mind, Chihiro started to get ready for her trip to her river.  
  
**********  
  
The wind felt delicious against her skin. She was moving at a leisurely pace. Nature was all around her and the only offensive sound was the faint whir of the bicycle's wheels. Since the death of her car, Chihiro had decided she would adopt this alternative mode of travel. It took a lot of creative thinking when it came to keeping all her equipment balanced, but she found she enjoyed it a lot more than driving. The glimmer of the river was blue in the distance and if she closed her eyes, Chihiro could almost imagine that there were horns beneath her hand rather than handlebars.  
  
Sometimes she missed those precious few rides with Haku so much that she cried. A single such tear escaped before she could stop it... No more came and she increased her speed towards the river.  
  
She couldn't go on thinking about Haku. There were a whole lot of reasons. For one he was a spirit and she was human. For another they would probably never see each other again. Not to mention that he probably never felt the same way for her as she did, no had for him...  
  
But why was she doing this? Why had she devoted her entire life to saving this river, if not for him?  
  
Kami, she needed a vacation.  
  
The bicycle skidded to a halt spraying dirt up in every direction. Chihiro dismounted and carrying all her stuff, took great care this time not to fall down the embankment. She hurriedly made her way to the boat, left her stuff and then went to go check on the mudslides. They were still there, but less defined than before, as if they had not been used in a while. She sighed and went back to the boat.  
  
Three silt samples: one from the waterline, one from the opposite shore, and one from the deeper regions. She would have to get out of the boat to get the last one. First, she took the waterline sample and then she dragged the boat into the water, so that she could row across. Luckily, the Kohaku was a small river. It didn't take very long at all to row across. After she took that sample, she took off her outer clothes revealing her modest bathing suit. Chihiro stretched. The sunlight felt good. Then she hopped into the water test tube in hand with a small splash.  
  
"Whoo! Just right!" She laughed. She loved being in the water. She loved to swim. Many a summer job had she spent being a lifeguard at some local pool. The only problem with that job was that you didn't get into the water much. Maybe if people drowned more...  
  
Ah well.  
  
Her feet just barely touched the bottom, stirring up sediment. She ducked under the water for a moment, holding the boat in place with her hand, and filled the test tube with a deft sweep. She came up, put the stopper in, and placed it back in the boat. She stared down at her feet for a minute and noted something. The color of the sediment there was a dark greenish brown that mimicked Haku's hair color perfectly.  
  
"Augh!" She yelled. "Think about other things, Chihiro!" She shook her head violently as if to fling the unwanted reference out of her head, and then tried to push herself up off the bottom and into the boat again. She was surprised in that, rather than cool mud beneath her toes, she felt something warm and slippery.  
  
She made a strangled sound and let go of the boat just as she was pulling herself up. She fell into the water with a mighty flailing splash. She banged her head against the boat's underside twice and then came up sputtering.  
  
"What was that?" She mused to herself. She hoped she hadn't stepped on anything alive and hurt it. She waited patiently for the water to clear, and then her brow furrowed at what she finally saw.  
  
A glimmer of sun-like color, shining out of the silt. She ducked back under the water and picked it up. She was shocked. In her hand was a rounded-smooth stone made of what she was sure was amber. It was heavy and just barely fit into her palm. She tried to get back into the boat, and this time succeeded.  
  
She turned it over in her hands. What was it doing here? Kohaku meant 'amber' didn't it?  
  
A summer wind blew at her back as if trying to alert her to something. She looked up.. Across the river at the mudslides, a small streamlined creature stood on its hind legs like a weasel, looking directly at her. They stared at each for a long time. Then the creature flopped forwards, and was gone in a ripple of silver.  
  
Chihiro stared at the ripples till they disappeared. That was when she realized the slow current was carrying her away. She struggled to row back to where she kept the boat and didn't think about what she had seen till she got there. That was the otter... Only... It didn't really look brown, as all otters were. The play of the sunlight on the water gave it the illusion of looking almost...  
  
Purple?  
  
*************  
  
Chihiro toweled her hair dry as she sat on the grass. When she was finished she put her hair back up into a messy ponytail. What now? She put her pants and Teva sandals back on and walked over to where she had seen the otter. There was no sign or trace that it had ever been there. She sighed and pouted. Then her stomach growled.  
  
Chihiro retreated to her backpack to retrieve her lunch. Her little bento box was filled with one of her favorite foods: sushi. She liked eel and yellow stripe best. She broke her chopsticks and began eating, but felt restless. She decided to walk along the bank as she ate. She paused again at the mudslides, picked two pieces of sushi out of her lunch and put them as near as she could figure to where the otter had been. She continued her walk.  
  
She had been walking for about fifteen minutes when she found a lovely little place. It was odd she had never seen it before. It was a little rounded dip in the bank where the water was still and smooth, caught in an eddy apart from the rest of the flowing river. An old tree trunk protruded on the bank from the water. Chihiro could see dozens of little minnows dancing around the submerged end of the trunk. She sat on the dry end and watched them. They were so active and merry, like little aquatic susuwatari. She smiled, but then her reverie was cut short by a loud quack.  
  
A little brown female duck swam up to her and quacked a hello.  
  
"Hello." Chihiro smiled. "I'm sorry, I don't have anything for you to eat."  
  
The duck begged to differ and quacked again.  
  
"Look, I don't have anything.." She stopped short when she reached into her pocket and felt the last of a pack of crackers she had gotten a few days before. She brought it out, crumbled them, and tossed it towards the bird. The little duck nabbed the floating particles with an enthusiasm only matched by the dancing minnows that ate what the duck missed.  
  
"You know, you shouldn't come up to people like that. Someone might give you something bad to eat or hurt you."  
  
The little duck tilted her golden-brown head to the side and looked at Chihiro as if she understood, then she turned and swam away.  
  
Chihiro chuckled noiselessly at the display and started back. She was nearly dry and she was done eating. She trudged along till she came to the mudslides and then she froze.  
  
There was a purple otter inspecting her sushi.  
  
Well, it wasn't exactly purple. It was more of a pinkish-purple, but who the hell cares? There was a pinkish-purple otter holding a piece of sushi in its large webbed paws looking at it as if it were poisoned or possibly explosive. It was to say the least unsettling.  
  
The familiar feeling washed over her again and this time she recognized it. The otter was inspecting the sushi far too thoroughly; the gaze was too intelligent... Too intelligent for it to be *just* an otter.  
  
It was a spirit.  
  
A spirit! Here in the real world! In her own Kohaku River! It was amazing, yet puzzling. It seemed so strange to see an actual spirit somewhere else than spirit world. It was like fantasizing something that you knew couldn't really happen all your life and then suddenly seeing it one day. It was a dream that carried on into conscious thought...  
  
Now what?  
  
"Um... Hello." Chihiro managed.  
  
The otter glanced at Chihiro, ate the sushi, and then looked away dismissively. It waddled up the bank to the top if the mudslide, and then slid down, landing in the water with a faint splash. Then it started to come out again. It's head protruded from the water and it gave a delicate yawn revealing lots of sharp pointy teeth.  
  
"Um.. Excuse me..."  
  
"What?!" The otter snarled its voice, obviously female, sounded annoyed.  
  
"You're a spirit aren't you?"  
  
"How astute of you. What the hell else would I be?!"  
  
Dang this critter was rude! I mean, how else are you supposed to start a conversation with a purple otter that you just happen to randomly meet one day? It wasn't as if there was a handbook!  
  
"Sorry! I mean... I was just wondering.. It isn't as if you see spirits around here all the time and I was wondering where you came from, that's all."  
  
"Oh. I come from spirit world."  
  
"I know that! But, if you're... Then how did you get here?"  
  
"I swam. Now go away and leave me alone! Kami, you're the most annoying human I've ever met..." The otter slid down the bank again.  
  
"Sorry..."  
  
"Stop saying you're sorry!"  
  
"So--... So what brings you around here?"  
  
"None of your business."  
  
"Oh."  
  
"Pfft. Whatever." The otter flopped back into the water and began swimming away.  
  
"Wait!" Chihiro called. "I still want to talk to you!"  
  
"Why?" The otter scoffed, and then disappeared beneath the water.  
  
Chihiro stood there, suddenly alone. Why did she want to speak to it anyway?  
  
Duh.  
  
The answer to all her subconscious thoughts: Haku. Perhaps the spirit had been to the bathhouse recently and heard something of him. Perhaps the otter even knew a way into Spirit World, so she could go see him herself. Involuntarily, her thoughts turned back to the day she had attempted to go back to Spirit World.  
  
It had been a summer day, not unlike the day she visited Spirit World for the first time... It was right after she had found the Kohaku River still flowing. She had followed the faint trail towards the old amusement park with excitement running through her veins. She had felt so happy...  
  
She saw the imposing tunnel entrance towering out of the trees. It was silent this time. Too silent. Too normal. She followed the tunnel expecting to see it open up into the large room with the benches, but instead, she hit a solid surface. The entrance didn't look like it had ever been finished. It simply didn't go any further...  
  
There was no way back.  
  
Chihiro sighed and started packing up her things. She had to get back for her afternoon class. For a moment, at the top of the bank, she looked back over the river. Then she turned and walked away.  
  
As soon as she had left, the river seemed to sigh.  
  
She would be back.  
  
**********************  
  
"Are you *sure* you haven't seen any?"  
  
"NO! No, no, no Asako! I haven't seen any frikken salamanders!" Chihiro reached up and turned her light off with a huff, and then flopped down into her bed and pulled the covers over her head.  
  
"You're sure?"  
  
"YES!!!!!!"  
  
"Alright." Asako turned her light off as well.  
  
Chihiro lay there for a long while. The wind chime in the open window whispered a soft lullaby, but Chihiro didn't hear it.  
  
"Something's not right..." She mumbled to herself silently..  
  
Then sleep claimed her.  
  
**************  
  
A pink shoe was swept down and away and the world was suddenly a brilliant liquid green. Bubbles rose from her mouth and rose towards the surface; a dull strict world that possessed none of this one's clarity. Her tiny hands clutched at smooth horn, her legs tickled from brushes against a feathery mane, and the shimmer of silver scales swam beneath her. She was rising to the surface, surely.... But did she really want to?  
  
Haku.  
  
Not Haku; Kohaku, Kohaku, Kohaku!  
  
He was Nigihayami Kohaku Nushi *not* Haku! He was not what Yubaba had made him! He was something else! He was Kohaku! He was the spirit of a river that came back from the dead! How could he not be? Where was he? Why didn't he come back home?  
  
What was wrong?  
  
Chihiro stood on a bank overlooking a river. The bank was unfamiliar, but the river was not... It was the Kohaku River, a deep blue shimmering ribbon... That seemed to be getting lighter. Before her eyes the deep blue of the water faded down to a pale unhealthy aqua. It wasn't till pockets of yellow sand appeared here and there that she realized what was happening.  
  
The water was disappearing; the river was drying up.  
  
"No!" She yelled, but the sound was carried away as the wind began to pick up speed and a familiar, if indistinct form rose out of the drying riverbed.  
  
It was Kohaku in his dragon form. He reared out of the sand as if he were being burned alive. He roared in pain, but all that seemed to come out of his mouth was a cascade of dry choking yellow sand. Chihiro wasted no time in running towards him; it was closer than it looked. When she finally came close enough to get a good look at him, she realized that it was too late. The sand had nearly eaten away his body. As soon as she reached to wrap him in her embrace, he simply fell apart in her arms.  
  
"Kohaku! Come back! I'm sorry! Please come back!"  
  
She dug through the sand as tears ran down her cheeks. She closed her eyes, trying to will her weeping away and when she opened them, her hands were covered in blood. She looked at her trembling hands, and then at the ground. The blood was seeping from the ground as if from a wound. She whispered her realization.  
  
"The Kohaku River is dying..."  
  
**********************  
  
Chihiro shot out of bed as if someone had kicked her in the fanny. She gasped; she had broken out in a cold sweat. Shivering, she looked at the glowing red face of the clock. It was exactly 2 o'clock. As swiftly and quietly as she could, she immediately started packing.  
  
She knew with the same certainty that she had known that her memories were not supposed to exist that the dream had meant something. The Kohaku River was dying. Why hadn't she thought of it before? Koahaku wasn't here! A river couldn't go on flowing without its spirit, could it? It was a mystery to her why it had come back in the first place, but the important thing was that the river survives. If the river died again, Kohaku wouldn't have a home.  
  
Surely the river had come back as a second chance for the kind dragon. What would happen to him if he missed this amazing second chance?  
  
She had a feeling she didn't want to know...  
  
So here she was packing. The solution was simple. She would go to Spirit World, find Kohaku, and tell him his river had randomly popped up again. No problem...  
  
Getting to Spirit World. That seemed to be the greatest problem, but she knew where she needed to go. The river, of course. That was where everything started, wasn't it?  
  
Silently, with the pin-light on her key chain for assistance, Chihiro found the gray waterproof bag she had bought for the field. It was designed for keeping valuables in during white water rafting so it not only floated, but it also sealed to be completely watertight. She didn't pack much. No hoopla. Just a change of clothes, her first aid kit, some food from her mini refrigerator, and on a whim, the amber stone she had found.  
  
Then she got dressed. Habit made her put on a bathing suit: a red and black tankini with short sleeves like a tee shirt. Then she put on a well-worn pair of tan surf pants. She pulled her hair up with her special hair-tie and slipped on her Teva sandals. She was ready to go... Accept for one thing...  
  
"Asako..." *poke* *poke* "Asako..."  
  
"Mrrph... Wha?"  
  
"I'm going on a little field trip, so tell everyone not to worry about me, ok?"  
  
"Snn.. Sure..." Asako dropped back off to sleep. Chihiro smiled. She left a note anyway, just in case... Then she was gone.  
  
The wind chime jingled in approval.  
  
******************  
  
The bike clattered noisily to the ground. Everything was silent. The river was oddly different at night. Luckily the moon was full and allowed enough light for Chihiro to see by. She ran towards the bank and there stopped. The otter. The otter had to have gotten here from spirit world somehow...  
  
"Hello?!" She yelled. Her voice sounded strange over the water. Even the crickets were silent.  
  
"Please! I need help! I have to get to Spirit World!"  
  
Silence.  
  
"Please! I'll do anything! I need to find someone!"  
  
Nothing.  
  
"I have to get to Spirit World!!!! Please, a friend of min--"  
  
"KAMI! Shut up! We all hear you!"  
  
Chihiro looked down. It was the otter. It looked pissed.  
  
"What's this about going to Spirit World? It's not a place for humans you know. Why would you want to go there?"  
  
"I need to find a friend of mine. His name is...Haku... I need to tell him something that's really important."  
  
"And this Haku is a spirit?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"And you want *me* to take you to Spirit World so you can find him?"  
  
"You can do that?! Take me to Spirit World?"  
  
"Ack!" The otter was caught. "Well... kinda."  
  
"Please." Chihiro said respectfully and bowed. "My name is Chihiro and I'd be deeply indebted to you if you'd take me to Spirit World."  
  
The otter sighed and twitched its whiskers and seemed to actually consider Chihiro's request for the first time. It hopped up beside the girl, touched her leg with a large webbed paw, and sniffed appraisingly. It seemed impressed.  
  
"The wind and water are strong in her... Very odd..." It muttered to itself. It looked up at her, searching her face. "Wait here." The otter leapt into the water and was gone again. However, only a few seconds later it immerged again, this time with a leather pouch grasped in its mouth. It opened the pouch and took out a round green piece of what looked like candy.  
  
"If you want to go to Spirit World with me, you'll have to eat this." It held out the candy. "I have the power to pass between worlds, but only through places where water is present. This candy will give you the ability to breathe underwater for one hour, so you won't drown... My name is Roku and I promise its not poisoned..."  
  
Chihiro took it. "So you'll take me?" She took the candy.  
  
Roku shrugged. "Hell, why not? It's not like I have anything better to do." With that the otter jumped back into the water, but this time a transformation took place. Roku went down a plain old purple otter, but came back up a really really big purple otter. Chihiro blinked.  
  
"Don't look at me like that. This just my transformed state. Now eat the frikken candy and hop on."  
  
Well. It was what she wanted... Chihiro popped the candy into her mouth and then waded into the water. She grabbed handfuls of Roku's thick fur and hauled herself onto the creature's back. The candy dissolved in her mouth; a strange herbal taste.  
  
"You got a good grip?"  
  
"Yes ma'am." Chihiro nodded and secured her bag. Roku tossed her pouch around her own neck with a string that was attached.  
  
"Then let's go!"  
  
In a flurry of movement that Chihiro barely comprehended, the otter leapt into the deeper water with a splash and was diving straight down to the riverbed. Chihiro arched like a distressed cat, but held onto the spirit's neck for dear life. They swam till she couldn't hold her breath anymore, but when she finally had to breathe; she realized she didn't need to. She felt absolutely no need to breathe. 'That could have been useful back then...' she mused inwardly. In only a few seconds, the muddy river bottom came into view. The spirit showed no sign of stopping.  
  
Chihiro would have screamed had there been an impact, but there wasn't... She simply felt a strange sensation, as if the water had thickened, like jell-o. Then a blue light encompassed them, or more precisely the water they were swimming through glowed blue. Lacy nebulae of sediment hung motionless around them. Roku swam around them and Chihiro looked ahead. It looked like another river bottom. She looked over her shoulder... Nothing was there. She turned back around as they passed through the next barrier... Then they were spiraling upwards. Chihiro could see the faint outline of the moon and stars shimmering from far above the water. They surged into the air in a spray of bubbles.  
  
Chihiro breathed in actual air and sighed contentedly. She looked around. They weren't in the Kohaku River anymore. Here, the water was shallow; reed dotted the surface. There was no shore in sight.  
  
"That was amazing!" Chihiro beamed. It was an incredible experience! And now she was in Spirit World. She knew it. A strange bird's cry echoed over the water.  
  
Now to find Kohaku.  
  
*************************  
  
Well. Chapter two... Chapter three may take a while.... Be patient... Farewell, and review! 


	3. Found

It is I, Jjah-Jjah! I have indeed updated, aren't you proud?!  
  
*Silence*  
  
Er. Yeah... Anyway, moving on. We're finally in Spirit World! Now things really start to get crackin'! Perhaps we'll see Kohaku soon! Or not... Then again: Buahahahahahahahahaha! There, a good evil laugh solves everything... Let's get on to my splendiferous reviewers! For those who *didn't* review, I know where you live...  
  
dragonmaster01: *grins* here's the next chapter, thanks!  
  
koolkatlily: Thank you!  
  
Angel Of Joy: *blushes* Thanks!  
  
Alright. That's that. Disclaimer time.  
  
Disclaimer: I'm too tired to resist the lawyers right now, so I'll just admit that Miyazki-san owned Spirited Away... A shocker, huh? *ZAP* Oh god! My eyes! My eyes!  
  
Erm, yea. Lets R&R shall we?  
  
*********** Chapter 3 ***********  
  
"So, where exactly is this 'friend' of yours?" The otter turned her pale gaze to the human astride her back.  
  
"Umm. At Yubaba's bathhouse, I guess..."  
  
The otter jerked around at an impossible angle, to shove her face into the startled young woman's.  
  
"Yubaba?! Aburaya? That woman's straight out of hell; who is this stupid friend of yours anyway?!"  
  
"His name is... Haku..."  
  
"And he works for Yubaba?"  
  
"Well, last time I checked..."  
  
Roku stared at her for a moment, incredulously, before turning around and muttering curses under her breath and swimming forward.  
  
"So. Are you taking me to the Aburaya?"  
  
"No."  
  
"No? But I have to get to Haku!!!" The shrill tone her voice took, echoed over the water and caused Roku to cringe.  
  
"Look, this Haku would be where Yubaba is, right?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Well, Yubaba isn't at her bathhouse right now."  
  
Chihiro's brow wrinkled. "She's not?"  
  
"No. Every twenty years or so, there's this big Spirit World event, thing that everybody goes to. It's basically a bunch of races down the Toshi River. The ones who place highest in the races go on to Kawa no Toshi, and compete for the grand prize."  
  
"Kawa no Toshi? The City of Rivers?"  
  
"Yep. Kawa no Toshi is where all the rivers of the human world are reflected. Some big head honcho over there hosts the races."  
  
"And Yubaba is at the races?"  
  
"Aburaya sponsors a top contestant every time. She gets the lion's share of the profits from the gambling..."  
  
"So she'll definitely be there..." Chihiro finished.  
  
Roku nodded. "This is a tributary to the Toshi. I'll take you to where the first race is being held. From there, you're on your own..."  
  
"But.." Chihiro protested.  
  
"But nothing!!! I have much more important things to do, other than baby-sitting a little human while she goes wandering all over creation looking for her boyfriend!!!"  
  
"He's not my boyfriend!!!!" Chihiro yelled, and it echoed over the water.  
  
**********************  
  
Leaf-green eyes snapped open. She was coming. He sighed. Why couldn't she just leave him alone?  
  
He reached a bird-like claw around and experimentally tried to scratch at the paper o-fuda seal plastered between his shoulder blades. He growled in frustration and pain as he scraped the edge of the raw area. No matter how hard he tried, he could never quite reach it.  
  
"Why hello Haku! Fancy meeting you here..."  
  
He jerked around, his eyes narrowing into predatory slits. He bared white fangs set in black gums and let out a hate-filled snarl. Yubaba clattered over to stand only a few inches from the bars, grinned, and let out a plume of poisonous smoke from her cigarette towards the dragon. He pulled his head back, to get away from the noxious smell, banging his head against the roof of the cage in the process. Yubaba cackled, clearly amused.  
  
"I told you I would tear you to pieces, but this is much more fun, isn't it?"  
  
He would have said something, but he couldn't. All that came out was a disgusted dragonish hiss. She had put him in this cage. It was only a few years ago, considering time meant nothing to a spirit, but it seemed like an eternity. Long ago he had outgrown it, but Yubaba gave no indication of changing him to a new one. He had to stay coiled up just to fit. He often banged his head. His neck, his back, and his tail: everything ached horribly. He was in nearly constant pain. The only time he wasn't was when he dreamed. He dreamed of the time out of the cage, of flying above the clouds with the wind in his mane, of free-falling from those clouds with a girl, and the blissful feeling of that same girl embracing him when she found that he was alive.  
  
Chihiro.  
  
If only she remembered him.  
  
"The races start tomorrow. Too bad you're so rebellious; you'd make a good horse."  
  
Even if he could have spoken, he wouldn't have dignified it with an answer. Instead he held his head up high and fixed the witch with a cool glare of indifference.  
  
Yubaba chuckled venomously. "Don't get fresh with me dragon boy." Her red-clawed digits closed convulsively over a bar and moved, spider- like, in a mesmerizing pattern. "No spirit can remove that charm from you, and as long as you're sealed in your dragon form, you'll be a source of endless amusement for me! Too bad that little human isn't here to help you, hmm? But she doesn't even remember Spirit World and all the trouble she caused, much less a worthless snake like you..." She left the sentence hanging, like a dead rat on a string... Then she smiled a cracked, wide smile and left as abruptly as she had came.  
  
He waited till he was sure she had left, and then collapsed in exhaustion. She seemed to take some weird pleasure in tormenting him every chance she got... He knew that it would end so; he just hadn't known it would take this course. From the moment he made the bargain freeing Chihiro and her parents, he knew his life was forfeit. Yubaba's threats were not one's to be taken lightly.  
  
He had held the girl's hand and promised her that they would meet again, that everything would be all right, all the while knowing that it was a lie. A complete lie. He had known, that as in all of the rare instances when a human wandered into Spirit World, that she would forget everything that happened once she returned to her own world. He had known that Yubaba would never allow him to just walk away after his betrayal, never let him go...  
  
So here he lay, in the wheeled cage of Yubaba's "beloved pet" that she took with her wherever she went. Everyone seemed to take such great delight in seeing a mighty dragon caged. It was humiliating.  
  
Now she had taken him to the races. The races that ended at Kawa no Toshi... Likely Yubaba did not know of the extra sting that that added onto his pain. Nigihayami Kohaku Nushi. This was his name and it was all he remembered. He remembered rescuing Chihiro; just at he remembered every detail about Chihiro, but other than that... Nothing. No matter how hard he tried he could not remember any place that he could go to. Yubaba had held onto that past-less aspect of him and never let go. He knew, for Chihiro had told him, that his river was no more. He bowed his head.  
  
What was a river spirit without a river?  
  
He was a homeless wraith without a name.  
  
He was what Yubaba had named him and nothing more.  
  
Haku.  
  
**********************  
  
Chihiro hummed under her breath, nearly completely zoned out. Cool water streamed past her lower legs and she watched them pass fish swimming far below. Roku swam on like a snake, pausing every now and then to sniff the air for scents or glide around a stand of reeds.  
  
"Roku?"  
  
"Hmm?"  
  
"What species of otter are you?"  
  
"Smooth coat. Why?"  
  
"Just wondering."  
  
The girl shifted slightly and ran her fingers through her guide's thick glossy fur. Her heart felt heavy, like a stone in her chest. She was surprised that the weight of it had not pulled her to the bottom of the river and kept her there. Once she found Kohaku, what would she do? She would tell him about his river coming back, but how and what then? She smiled bitterly at herself.  
  
'I could just walk right up to him and say, "Hi! Remember me? I'm that annoying kid you used to know. I know it's kind of odd that I've just randomly appeared, but just so you know, your river's come back, even though it was drained and filled in. Isn't that nice?"'  
  
She barked a silent laugh and shook her head. Would he even care? She snappishly berated herself. Scratch that, would he even care about *her*? What would his reaction be to her return? It was more than likely, he would be happy enough to hear about his river, but....  
  
'There you go again, Chihiro!' She yelled inwardly. 'You know it wouldn't work out! You were *ten* for Kami's sake, he would never feel anything for a ten-year-old!'  
  
The little voice in her head reiterated the fact that she was no longer ten years old, but she told it to shut up, so it went off to find more meddlesome things to do...  
  
But it raised some questions... 'Would I, could I, be attractive to him?' She blushed and pushed away the question as soon as it formed. It was a pointless and stupid question...  
  
Chihiro was one of those girls that guys could talk to, but never had any interest in. She didn't know whether or not she was pretty. No had ever told her that she was, but she assumed that she was pretty plain. As far as she was concerned, she looked about the same as she had when she was a child: raggedy hair in a ponytail, gray eyes, a scrawny body, and no breasts... She admitted to herself that this probably wasn't so, but you can only look at yourself for so long before you become numb to any change... She looked down at her reflection in the water and shattered it with her hand.  
  
Just forget about it. She had never been kissed, never been out on a date, and she probably never would. Ah well, she was antisocial anyway and men were idiots, it was ok with her. She could just look forward to living in a scary dilapidated house, all alone save for a plethora of cats, with nothing to look forward to but sitting on her porch all day and throwing rocks at passing children. She could get used to that... She stared off into space.  
  
But sometimes... The loneliness...  
  
"We're here!"  
  
Chihiro snapped to attention and looked around. They were coming up on a shore strewn with color... Involuntarily, she gaped in wonder. It *was* Spirit World! It really was! A rainbow of wagons and trailers were scattered everywhere, and the spirits they had come with were numerous. She could see a structure further down river. Figures in boats were decorating it with banners.  
  
'That must be where the race starts.' Chihiro mused.  
  
"Ok. Shove off."  
  
"Wait a minute! You said you'd take me to where Yubaba is!"  
  
"This *is* where Yubaba is."  
  
"I don't see her anywhere..."  
  
Roku glared at her, "Feh. You're going to take me to my word, aren't you?" Chihiro smiled innocently, and the otter increased the intensity of her glare.  
  
"Please?" Chihiro breathed, "At least wait until I spot Haku..."  
  
Roku groaned, but swam along the shore, careful to hide among the reeds.  
  
"Just look for the gaudiest trailer in the whole pack, ok?"  
  
Chihiro nodded. Yubaba's tastes would certainly make her easy to spot. They eased further down the bank, looking intently, till they nearly reached the end of the caravan. A pink and blue trailer sparkled in the light, the golden ugly bird crest contrasting sharply. They looked at the frothy pink curtain peeking out of one open window and looked at one another.  
  
"Want to bet that's it?"  
  
Roku moved closer to the bank and inched ever so slowly along it. Chihiro scoured all around for any glimpse of familiarity, finding none, till the rear of the trailer came into view. Chihiro's heartbeat stopped...  
  
Set up behind Yubaba's trailer, was what looked like a gigantic birdcage, but what was in it, was not a bird. It was a dragon.  
  
It was *her* dragon.  
  
"That's him!!!" She whispered excitedly.  
  
Roku peeked over the reeds and froze. Her eyes widened.  
  
"*That's* your Haku?!"  
  
Chihiro could only nod in affirmation. There he was! So close, yet so far away. He was coiled up like a magnificent silver ribbon; he held up his head, his neck arched like a swan's. He was bigger than when she'd last seen him, but none the less beautiful.  
  
Why was he in a cage?  
  
"Kami have mercy." Roku muttered under her breath.  
  
"What?" Chihiro asked, glancing down.  
  
"Oh nothing. Just pondering on how I nearly brought down my own destruction."  
  
"Huh?"  
  
"Nothing. Listen, if we're gonna rescue Haku, we're gonna have to get started right now."  
  
Chihiro did a double take. "Wait a minute, *now* you're gonna help me?"  
  
"Yep. Hold on." With that Roku shot off back the way they had came. Chihiro grabbed a hank of fur to keep her balance, and then looked longingly over her shoulder towards Haku, only to see him disappear.  
  
"Hey! Where are we going?"  
  
"Don't worry. You can ogle you boy friend later. Right now we've got to get to registration."  
  
"Do what?"  
  
"If you want to get close enough to help him, what better excuse than entering the race?"  
  
Chichiro inwardly hesitated. Could she just enter the race with Yubaba around? Would she be recognized?  
  
"Roku? Do we have to? I'm afraid Yubaba might recognize me."  
  
"Yubaba knows you?"  
  
Chihiro grinned nervously. "Oh yes indeed."  
  
"How exactly?"  
  
"Well... I worked for her for a little while, when I was a kid, when I kinda randomly found Spirit world... I was ten years old."  
  
"Ten? You're all grown up now surely she won't recognize you! But... I see your point... I have an idea! Hold on."  
  
Before Chihiro could hardly react, Roku had dived and was speeding along the riverbed. Chihiro convulsively held her breath, unsure as to whether or not the candy was still working. They popped out of the water a few moments later, far enough downstream to be away from the activities and out of sight. The otter swam over to a conveniently placed dock and allowed Chihiro time to scramble off before she leapt onto it as well. The wind stirred her wet hair as Chihiro straightened and felt her joints pop. She grimaced, and then shivered.  
  
"Cold?" Roku questioned, shaking herself off. Chihiro nodded and the otter took off her pouch and tossed it to the human. "Eat a red one. It'll warm you up."  
  
Hesitantly, Chihiro complied, and pulled an oval red candy from the pouch she put it in her mouth, and then very nearly coughed it up. She went into a five-minute hacking fit, turned red as a tomato, and slowly recovered. She growled and turned to face Roku, who appeared to have found a very interesting bush.  
  
"That thing was frikken hot!!!"  
  
"Yes, but you're dry now, aren't you?"  
  
Chihiro looked down and realized, amazed, that it was so. "How?"  
  
"My candies are just special. You know that it doesn't really matter that something is impossible. Everything is possible if you look at it in the right way."  
  
Chihiro blinked at the sudden sage-like change in her guide, but shrugged it off when the otter started moving with long waddling strides off the dock and down a path that led to the festivities.  
  
"Hey, what are we doing?" Chihiro called, and then ran to catch up, putting the pouch around her neck.  
  
"There's a little town right near the races, I need to go to the telegraph office. We need to get registered for the race too, before it's too late."  
  
"What exactly is the point of entering the race? I know to get close to Haku, but can't we just follow the festivities?"  
  
"We could, but once the race gets to a certain point, spectators aren't allowed to continue. Besides, we'll be able to move around a lot more freely."  
  
"Ok. I guess that makes sense."  
  
As they moved closer to the festivities, however, Chihiro began to get noticeably more nervous. Her thought drifted back to when she first entered Spirit World.  
  
"Roku! What if they smell that I'm human and refuse to let me enter the race? Or more importantly, what if they eat me?"  
  
"My candy and the water have pretty much gotten rid of your smell. If they give you any trouble, just tell them you have a flesh-eating disease, and they'll leave you alone."  
  
"What do you mean, if they give *me* any trouble? Won't you be there?"  
  
"Telegraph office, remember? You'll have to register us yourself. I'll be back as soon as I can. Use this for the entrance fee." She lifted up another pouch, this one significantly smaller, and placed it in Chihiro's hand.  
  
"Uhh.. Ok..." They stopped as they reached the edge of the grounds when a small group of colorful bird-like spirits running past blocked their way. Chihiro surveyed her surroundings. There were spirits of all kinds everywhere. She spotted a large yellow banner with the word "registration" written on it. She started forward.  
  
"See you Roku!" She called, steeling her nerves. Roku blinked, then nodded and started off towards a small cluster of buildings down the road.  
  
Chihiro walked determinedly towards the registration booth. No one seemed to have noticed that she was out of place yet. There was a line, so she got in it and tried to look normal. She inwardly laughed at herself. She felt just as she had back then, when she had first met Kamaji and had stood trembling, for a long while before she summoned enough courage to address him. Now at least, she had enough time just standing in line to work up that same courage. Someone stepped into line behind her and then the line moved forward slightly. Self consciously, she fiddled with her hair for a moment before pausing, and slowly taking it down. Her hairstyle was a danger in that it might trigger some recognition, her hair tie even more so... She slipped the purple tie onto her wrist and began fiddling with the strap of her bag.  
  
As the line moved forward, she noted the spirit running the registration. He was short, and something about his shape made her think that he was an amphibian, but not a frog. She had seen enough frogs at the bathhouse to know that that wasn't it. Perhaps a salamander, she mused. The pale red speckles all over him seemed to support her assumption. When she finally got up there, she'd have to check for a tail.  
  
Nearly half-an-hour later she was still in line. Apparently, the idiot in front of her had forgotten something or other and he was making a big fuss over it. Chihiro sighed and squirmed nervously. She had hoped to get this done quickly. She figured that the less time she spent in line, in close proximity to the spirits, the less likely they were to smell she was human. It was the amazing diversity among the spirits that she credited to her not being found out thus far. Anyone looking at her might think that she was just a really weird looking spirit from far away, and what little human smell she still possessed was probably being drowned out by all the other smells. She was still nervous though. If anything, she somehow craved the comfort of the dragon boy. Knowing that he was near only made her want to run to go see him, but she knew that she couldn't. Not yet.  
  
Absently, she noticed that her feet here going numb. 'If I stand here much longer, I'll scream.' Chihiro thought to herself. She was next, but it didn't seem like next would come anytime soon. 'I've never heard anyone talk for so long without taking a breath!' She looked the hulking antlered spirit in front of her in a mixture of exasperation and amusement. 'I guess I'm lucky that the races start tomorrow, otherwise I'd never get registered in time!'  
  
It was then that the ever-famous concept of cosmic humor took over...  
  
A chubby, short little spirit pushed his way through the crowd, trailing what looked like posters behind him.  
  
"Akaji-san! Akaji-san!"  
  
The alleged salamander looked tersely from trying to placate the problematic spirit and fixed the approaching spirit with a glare. "What is it, Kando?"  
  
Chihiro noted the newcomer with interest. Unlike Akaji, Kando appeared to be some kind of fish, maybe a koi. Her attention immediately shifted when she heard what he was saying.  
  
"Akakji-san, they moved up the races! I heard it from the top; the first race is going to be held today instead of tomorrow!"  
  
"What?!" The salamander yelled, getting up so quickly that he knocked over his chair. "Why would they do that? Why on such short notice?"  
  
"I don't know, sir, but I heard something about how these grounds have to be used for something else tomorrow!"  
  
"Hell, this is a fine kettle of fish! At what time are the races supposed to start now?"  
  
"Umm... In half an hour..."  
  
"HALF AN HOUR??!!" Akaji bellowed. "How am I supposed to be prepared for that?" He looked back at the spirit who as still complaining to some of his cringing assistants. "Just how am I supposed to deal with this?!"  
  
Chihiro watched with an air of suppressed panic. 'If I don't get registered, I won't be able to get in the race! I don't have enough time for this!!!' She looked at the huge ranting spirit in front of her and took a deep breath...  
  
"Excuse me, sir."  
  
The spirit stopped talking, and the spirits at the register desk fixed her with an astonished look. Slowly, he turned around, arranging his bulk so that he towered over her. He looked at her with a serious expression on his fanged face. She could have sworn she had seen a similar kind of creature at the bathhouse. She stood there for a moment trying to keep her anxiety under control and was surprised at how easy it was. This spirit was no Kaonashi.  
  
"Excuse me, sir," she began again, her confidence growing, "but I was just wondering what it was you lost. You see, I really need to get registered for the race, so I'd like to help you in any way I can."  
  
The spirit just stood there for a moment, his expression unchanged, looking at her.  
  
Then he said, "Recipe."  
  
"Your recipe?" Chihiro tried not to raise an eyebrow.  
  
He nodded.  
  
"Why do you need a recipe for a race?"  
  
The spirit blinked at her, then tilted his head slightly to the side. "This not registry for cooking contest?"  
  
"Nooo." Chihiro corrected. "This is the registry for the race, see?" She pointed to the banner over the booth and he turned his head to look at it. Then he turned back around and scratched his head with one hairy appendage. He was still for a moment, then broke out into a goofy smile.  
  
"Ha, ha, ha! Guess at wrong booth! Thank you!" With that, he moved out of line and walked off...  
  
Chihiro smiled to herself and moved forward; all the spirits at the table sighed in relief.  
  
"Oh Kami, I never thought we'd get him to leave!" One groaned.  
  
"Thank you!" Another added.  
  
"That was it?!" Akaji ranted, "He was at the wrong booth all the time?! Why didn't anyone catch that?!"  
  
"Ahem." Chihiro interrupted. "I'd like to register for the race, please."  
  
Akaji huffed, and went back into registrar mode. He looked her up and down, and then raised a brow.  
  
"Are you sure you want to do this? You don't look like you have enough money, you'll have to pay a late fee you know, and you probably won't have enough time anyway..."  
  
"Please, sir. I've come a really long way to be in this race."  
  
'Congratulations Chihiro, you've just won the understatement of the year award!' she thought to herself.  
  
"I think I have enough money..." Actually, she wasn't too sure. No one had ever said anything about a late fee, so she wasn't sure that Roku had given her enough. She opened the small pouch and emptied its contents onto the table. Six small, round objects fell out and rolled across the table's surface. Akaji stopped one with a slightly webbed hand, brought it up close to his face for inspection and gasped.  
  
"It it not enough?" Chihiro asked hesitantly.  
  
"These are high-quality river pearls..." He said, and at her questioning look, continued, "It's more that enough. You sign here." He shoved a book and a pen in her direction and pointed to the correct section.  
  
Chihiro hesitated, wary of writing her name down on anything... Perhaps she should put an alias... She decidedly put down the first thing that same to mind: Sen... Then, realizing she should probably put down a last name as well, she added Ryu: dragon.  
  
"Is that all?" She asked, looking up.  
  
"No." Akaji answered. "You need to write down the name of your mount, too."  
  
"My mount?"  
  
"Oh come on. You aren't planning to swim the race yourself are you? Put down the name of your mount."  
  
It was then that she felt something soft and warm against her neck. She looked, and saw that Roku had draped herself like a furry boa around her neck. The now normal sized otter gave a cheerful wave.  
  
"Roku." Chihiro said the name as she wrote it down.  
  
"Good. Now here are your numbers." He handed her a pair of numbered strips of cloth. "Now you know where the race is? You'd better hurry, Ryu- san, you only have a few minutes!"  
  
"Thank you!" Chirhiro called as Roku pinched her and she went racing towards the starting line like a madwoman.  
  
She could only hope that she wasn't too late.  
  
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Whoo-hooo! I finished. Sorry about the cliffy, but I'm doing a cliffy experiment to see if it motivates me to update faster, and this fic's the guinea pig! Adieu! JJ 


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